Advice needed for ebook self-publishing, not just on Amazon

Hi,

I have written and published my first book last quarter of 2012, and needless to say it wasn't successful. I managed to break even though, and still managed to continue selling some copies this month.

I want to give it a go again, especially after reading some positive reviews. Feels good to publish a book where there are people buying and giving good reviews.

The book I wrote was a consumer guide, an how-to-book.

I think I need advice on the following:

1) Good technical writers and NDA advice...I now know what and how to write, just need some extra hands to speed things up. Any recommendations on great ghostwriters adept at writing and explaining with pics/diagrams? And how to minimize chances that they will screw their word on NDA?

2) Self-publishing networks...I read much about Amazon KDP and know some to-dos on how to market on Kindle. But I'm interested in other self-publishing networks as well, be it printed or electronic books. I'm not so sure if reading an how-to book on Kindle is pleasant for my readers, so I want to explore publishing hard-copy books. I'm open to any ideas.

3) Marketing...I sucked bad on my first attempt. I tried using Google Adwords and spent almost 700 bucks to close a sale at $18. Not good. Learned valuable lessons like making sure to group campaigns by countries and not just spam the entire world.

I need advice on marketing networks...or publishing houses...anything. I don't know what's out there, and just like to know alternate marketing methods other than Google Adwords and Amazon.

Any valuable advice will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!